Swiss open probe into CIA flights

December 17, 2005

BERN, Switzerland (AP) -- Switzerland has opened a criminal investigation into whether suspected CIA flights violated Swiss laws by carrying terror suspects through the country's airspace, officials said Friday. Mark Wiedmer, spokesman for the Federal Prosecutor's Office, said the investigation was launched earlier this week, but that prosecutors "were aware of the difficulties" they will probably face in obtaining information from Washington. "The investigation is in connection with the alleged CIA overflights," Wiedmer told The Associated Press. Last month, the Swiss Foreign Ministry said it had asked the United States about allegations that clandestine CIA planes carried terror suspects through its airspace, landing four times at Geneva's airport. A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in the Swiss capital, Bern, said a response was still pending. "We have taken the request and forwarded it on to the State Department," said Daniel Wendell. According to the Swiss Federal Office of Civil Aviation, U.S.-registered planes suspected of being used by the CIA crossed Swiss airspace on at least 73 occasions since 2001.